ADHD and Email Workflow

mscazzero·Dec 29, 2022

hey everyone!! I currently have ADHD and I am trying to create a system to organize my work email on outlook- anyway willing to share their system to have .a talk with me to give me some support Please message me

Iynna·Dec 30, 2022

Thank you for posting Maria! I don't have ADHD (or at least I have not been diagnosed) so I cannot give you tips from someone who knows what you're going through. That said, I did some quick research out of curiosity and I found this... If you haven't come across it yet, https://www.adhdimpactcoaching.com/blog/managing-email-adhd , https://marlacummins.com/adhd-email-productivity/ and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ypSL8tSKo

teresaman·Dec 30, 2022

I don't have ADHD so unsure if this is of help, but thought I'd share where I work: https://superhuman.com/ where we're building an email experience that really helps people focus and stay in flow, through visual minimalism, ad-free model, and also we advocate for very specific workflows that help people attend to one thing at a time in their inbox.

juliezarubafountaine·Dec 30, 2022

Hi Maria! I have been asked this question a lot. So much so that I made a free downloadable on my website to help folks with email management. Here is the link to the free download www.empowerpossible.com/p/my-downloadable-15570

Shan213·Jan 03, 2023

I do and email is probably my biggest key to success. I use it as a to-do list (in conjunction with calendar) & my goal for the week is clear the week's emails out. I have a set of rules I follow:INBOX:--- Nothing can EVER be moved away from my inbox until it's 100% complete on my end (due to out of sight, out of mind probs). I know once it's in a folder I'll never look at it again - ceases to exist. ---I send emails to myself of things I need to remember to do that week with the topic in the subject header. One topic per email. It's so satisfying to 'delete' them once done. ---Once the email has been answered in full/I have no further responsibility in its' interaction, then it gets filed into the relevant company/topic folder it deals with for later access. I hardly ever delete anything except for reminders I've sent to myself (because that will always be the email you need, we have a knack for this).---By the end of the week I've fought most all of the fires/responses I needed to, which has given me a feeling of accomplishment, and will only have the deep-work left (which I do on a Sunday, riding on this feeling of success). ---I work Sunday - Thurs & book light calls for Fridays if any. Find the quiet of a Sunday afternoon much more productive than any day of the week & you start the week feeling a little bit ahead. CALENDAR:---If I make a commitment to something in an email or asked for something, then I have to create a calendar invite for one week's time to follow it up. This calendar note cannot be deleted until it has been completed, and must be carried forward into the next week until completed. ---If it's a deadline, I write DEADLINE in the calendar reminder, and schedule it for a few random days ahead of the deadline (never the same number of days in advance or you'll know). I also set a few calendar invites throughout the weeks prior like 'start draft report now', 'ask xx to give input on draft', to either remind me, or help build a panic about getting it done. I'll forget and still do it in a mad panic the day of, and then get a nice surprise when I realise I've tricked myself into doing it early. ---Colour-coding really helps me to 'see' what I've got coming up. Red (for deadlines, calls, meetings, flights, medical appoints), pink (for catch-ups, social, networking, webinars), default blue (for reminders), bright blue (for travel times around meetings), green (for health, beauty, fitness). Sometimes you'll get a build-up of emails. This may have been debilitating previously, but since I have a system, it tends to create a panic-incited hyper-focus (the dream state) and I blitz through a whole lot of them in one go. Given we are only committed to focusing on the current or past week, it's less overwhelming. The deeper-work items can stay in the inbox until you've scheduled to do the work. I feel like everyone has a slightly different experience of ADHD though (and workload generally), so may take a bit of figuring out to know what works for you. I just know I'm very 'out of sight, out of mind' & a visual person, so this way works. Happy to chat through if easier.

mscazzero·Jan 03, 2023

I would love to chat!

elysewallnutt·Feb 06, 2023

Hi! A big one for me has been to dedicate specific time to checking email (instead of replying at all times during the day). I go through and take care of all email at once in the morning, mid-day and before I sign out. I realize this doesn't work for every job, but if you can treat answering email like one task to check off, that's helpful to me not ping ponging out of what I'm doing. I also have all notifications turned off. While I'm self-employed now, I was open with my previous employers about the fact that notifications were difficult for me to manage, so my boss always knew that they could text or call me if there was a true urgency instead of relying on slack/email.